You
may not realise it, but you have a problem. I can solve that problem. There is
no one else who can. Manufactured inadequacy. Projected confidence. Illusionary
exclusivity. There is a reason why wealth is a team sport created in bubbles.
If you genuinely care about the person, and your lives are connected, then
creating a problem to extract wealth makes no sense. If you have a relationship
with a person, it becomes impossible to hide that you are as confused and incompetent
at most things as the rest of us. That you are just doing your best. If you
care about someone, you stop looking for someone “better” to replace them,
because the key is time spent. The person matters. Nepotism, Hereditary
Privilege, Patronage, Clubs, and other forms of anti-Meritocracy are incentives.
They shift the performance spotlight to a group bigger than ourselves. They make
room for vulnerability. Family, children, friends, and community. They also
have unintended consequences. I don’t know the answer, but the question is how
to see real problems, be honest about our ignorance, and see the strengths in
others that are not ours.
"American Progress" John Gast (1872)
